Archive for September, 2007

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The Man Who Didn’t Follow His Own Advice (Proverbs 1:1)

Wednesday, September 19th, 2007
The Book of Proverbs begins by naming its author: “The proverbs of Solomon son of David, king of Israel” (1:1; cf. 10:1, 25:1). Other men edited Solomon’s proverbs (25:1) or added theirs to his (22:17, 24:23, 30:1, 31:1), but Solomon’s voice is the dominant one. And that fact entails this irony: Solomon is the man who didn’t follow his own advice.
 
Solomon was the son of David and Bathsheba. David was the king who united the fractious tribes of Israel into a united kingdom (2 Sam. 5:1-5). Bathsheba was David’s paramour (11:1-5) who later became his wife and the mother of his two boys. The first boy died in infancy, but Solomon survived, and “the Lord loved him” (12:24-25). In David’s last years, another of his sons by another of his wives tried to usurp his throne (1 Kgs. 1:5-8), but David appointed Solomon as his rightful heir (1:29-30). And so, after his parents’ adultery and brother’s treachery, Solomon became Israel’s king.
 
Given Solomon’s family background, it’s not surprising that he asked God for wisdom. According 1 Kings 3:9, he prayed: “give your servant a discerning heart to govern your people and to distinguish between right and wrong.” According to 3:12-13, God answered Solomon’s prayer, and then some: “I will do what you have asked. I will give you a wise and discerning heart, so that there will never have been anyone like you, nor will there ever be. Moreover, I will give you what you have not asked for—both riches and honor—so that in your lifetime you will have no equal among kings.” And according to 4:29-34 and 10:14-29, God kept his promise and blessed Solomon with a superabundance of wisdom and wealth.
 
With Solomon’s background and blessings in mind, four themes in Proverbs begin to make sense. First, the priority of God: “The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge, but fools despise wisdom and discipline” (Prov. 1:7). Second, the necessity of wisdom: “Wisdom is supreme; therefore get wisdom. Though it cost all you have, get understanding” (4:7). Third, the sanctity of marriage: “May your fountain be blessed, and may you rejoice in the wife of your youth…. Why be captivated, my son, by an adulteress? Why embrace the bosom of another man’s wife?” (5:15-20). And fourth, the consequence of success: “With [wisdom] are riches and honor, enduring wealth and prosperity” (8:18).
 
Unfortunately, although Solomon began well, he ended poorly. Instead of worshiping God alone, he worshiped the gods of his 700 wives and 300 concubines (1 Kings 11:1-8). In doing this, he prioritized the gods instead of God, followed his glands instead of his brain, and committed adultery at least 999 times. As a result of this foolishness, God undid Solomon’s success in a generation (11:9-13).
 
Solomon’s story is thus a tragedy, but his proverbs are true. In fact, his tragic life proves their truth. So, if you want to be wise, don’t act like Solomon! But by all means, follow his advice!

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How Should You Interpret a Proverb?

Tuesday, September 18th, 2007
How should you interpret a proverb?
 
Consider Proverbs 26:4-5:
 
Do not answer a fool according to his folly,
or you will be like him yourself.
Answer a fool according to his folly,
or he will be wise in his own eyes.
 
Taken at face value, this proverb tells us not to answer a fool according to his folly; then it turns right around and tells us to do exactly that. It utters a contradiction.
 
Then again, you can find all sorts of contradictions in proverbs—whether biblical or not. Consider these non-biblical proverbs:
 
Absence makes the heart grow fonder.
Out of sight, out of mind.
 
Look before you leap.
He who hesitates is lost.
 
Too many cooks spoil the broth.
Many hands make light work.
 
Each of these three sets of proverbs also offers contradictory advice. Either absence makes you fonder for your loved ones or more forgetful of them, not both. Either you proceed with caution when making a big decision or you don’t, not both. Either more laborers make work more efficient or they don’t, not both. Given these contradictions, you might conclude that proverbs (biblical or otherwise) make no sense at all.
 
If you do, however, you’ve missed the nature of a proverb. The philosopher Aristotle once stated the law of non-contradiction this way: “one cannot say of something that it is and that it is not in the same respect and at the same time.” Even though two proverbs may say “that it is” and “that it is not,” they do not do so “in the same respect” and “at the same time.” They are not an absolute contradiction; rather, they are a relative truth. Or, as Tremper Longman puts it, “Proverbs are not universally valid. Their validity depends on the right time and the right circumstance.”[*]
 
Let’s go back to Proverbs 26:4. It says,
  
Do not answer a fool according to his folly,
or you will be like him yourself.
Answer a fool according to his folly,
or he will be wise in his own eyes.
 
According to Longman, what this proverb teaches is that “the wise person must, to put it baldly, know what kind of fool he or she is dealing with. If this a fool who will not learn and will simply sap time and energy from the wise person? If so, then don’t bother answering. However, if this is a fool who can learn, and our not answering will lead to worse problems, then by all means, answer.”[†]
 
Just as a good doctor knows when to prescribe medicine and in what dose, so the wise person knows when and how to apply a proverb. For, as Proverbs 15:23 puts it:
 
A man finds joy in giving an apt reply —
and how good is a timely word!
 
Copyright © 2007 by George P. Wood



[*] Tremper Longman III, How to Read Proverbs (Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity, 2002), 49.
[†] Ibid, 56.

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Why Read the Book of Proverbs?

Monday, September 17th, 2007
Americans love how-to books. Go to Amazon.com, search for books using the phrase how to, and you will receive a list of 716,578 related items. Current bestsellers include How to Win Friends and Influence People How to Walk in High Heels: The Girl’s Guide to Everything, and How to Talk So Kids Will Listen and Listen So Kids Will Talk.
 
I’ve actually read How to Win Friends and Influence People by Dale Carnegie. It’s a little gem of a book. The problem is that when you read it, its advice strikes you as so simple and so common sensical that you feel like a fool for spending $14.00 for it ($11.20 at Amazon.com). Dale Carnegie’s genius was taking common sense and repackaging it so that people would think about it in a new way.
 
That’s why we read the Book of Proverbs too. The vast majority of what Proverbs says is common sense. But the way it says things sticks with you, makes you think, and forces you to adjust the way you act. And whereas many how-to books deal with very specific subjects (winning friends, influencing people, walking in high heels, talking and listening to children), the Book of Proverbs deals with very broad subjects. It’s a how-to manual for life.
 
Now, everyone I know is searching for advice about living the good life. The problem is that most people assume the good life is caught up with healthy relationships, professional accomplishment, and financial independence. And that’s certainly part of a good life. But the Book of Proverbs digs deeper. Its vision of the good life begins not with what you have, but with who you are. Proverbs deals with inward character first, then—and only then—with outward success.
 
Consider, in this regard, what we read in Proverbs 1:2-6:
 
for attaining wisdom and discipline;
for understanding words of insight;
for acquiring a disciplined and prudent life,
doing what is right and just and fair;
for giving prudence to the simple,
knowledge and discretion to the young — 
let the wise listen and add to their learning,
and let the discerning get guidance — 
for understanding proverbs and parables,
the sayings and riddles of the wise.
 
There’s not one word here about how to have a healthy marriage or how to earn a six-figure salary or how to raise nice kids. Instead, we read about wisdom, discipline, prudence, justice, fairness, knowledge, and discretion. Now, if you get wisdom and all the other virtues, you’ll probably find a good mate, get a good job, and raise good children. But there are no seven infallible habits or twenty-one irrefutable laws that will get you those things without wisdom. Life just doesn’t work that way. You must be a certain kind of person before you can experience certain kinds of results in your life.
 
In the biblical scheme of things, being always comes before doing. Do you want a good life? Then become a good person! The Book of Proverbs will show you how.

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Where Was the Book of Proverbs Written?

Friday, September 14th, 2007
  
Common sense doesn’t have an expiration date. It doesn’t have national boundaries either. So, while the Book of Proverbs was written in ancient Israel, it shares much in common with the proverbs of neighboring countries. Its wisdom is international.
 
The Bible showcases the internationalism of Solomon’s wisdom in 1 Kings 4:29-34. According to verse 30, “Solomon’s wisdom was greater than the wisdom of all the men of the East, and greater than all the wisdom of Egypt.” And according to verse 34, others recognized the superiority of Solomon’s wisdom. “Men of all nations came to listen to Solomon’s wisdom, sent by all the kings of the world, who had heard of his wisdom.”
 
Throughout biblical history, the little nation of Israel often found itself at the mercy of the two superpowers that surrounded it: Egypt and Mesopotamia (“the East”). Early in its history, Israel escaped from slavery in the former, only to be exiled to the latter centuries afterward. But in Solomon’s day, Israel was independent of both superpowers, and its king’s wisdom reigned supreme.
 
And yet, Solomon’s wisdom (and that of Proverbs’ other authors) is very similar to the wisdom of Mesopotamia and Egypt in both form and content. In How to Read Proverbs, Tremper Longman quotes some of those similarities.[1] Consider just a few, from Proverbs and the Egyptian Amenemope Instruction:
 
Do not exploit the poor because they are poor
and do not crush the needy in court…. (Prov. 22:22)
 
Guard yourself from robbing the poor
From being violent to the weak. (Amenemope IV, 4-5)
 
Do you see a man skilled in his work?
He will serve before kings;
he will not serve before obscure men. (Prov. 22:29)
 
As for the scribe who is experienced in his office
He will find himself worthy to be a courtier. (Amenemope XXVII, 16-17)
 
Do not move an ancient boundary stone
or encroach on the fields of the fatherless,
for their Defender is strong;
he will take up their case against you. (Prov. 23:10-11)
 
Do not remove the boundary stone of the cultivated land.
Nor throw down the boundary of the widow. (Amenemope VII, 12)
 
How do you feel about these similarities? Are you shocked that biblical wisdom and Egyptian wisdom say the same kind of things in the same kind of way? Does the lack of originality dull the luster of the Bible for you? It shouldn’t. After all, if God created the heavens and the earth (Gen. 1:1), and if he created humanity in his image (Gen. 1:26), why would we be surprised if his Israelite image and his Egyptian image happen to agree? Shouldn’t we expect that they would agree?
 
God’s creativity and imagination put the common in common sense.
 
Copyright © 2007 by George P. Wood



[1] Tremper Longman III, How to Read Proverbs (Downers Grove, IL: 2002), 61-78.

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When was the Book of Proverbs Written?

Thursday, September 13th, 2007
When was the Book of Proverbs written? I don’t know, and it doesn’t matter. Permit me to explain my answers.
 
According to Proverbs 1:1, 10:1, and 25:1, many of the proverbs included in the book come from King Solomon, who flourished in the 10th Century B.C. Proverbs 25:1 adds that some of these Solomonic proverbs were collected by scribes of King Hezekiah, who reigned from 715 to 686 B.C. The Septuagint, which is a Greek translation of the Hebrew Bible, includes Proverbs; it dates to approximately 200 B.C. Based on this range of dates, then, the Book of Proverbs was not written before 1000 B.C. or after 200 B.C., but somewhere in the middle. Precisely when is anyone’s guess.
 
If you think about it, however, the precise date of the writing of Proverbs isn’t all that important. Now, if you were trying to establish the historical reliability of the Gospels, when those four books were written would be important. Or, if you were trying to reconstruct a chronological outline of Paul’s ministry, knowing when he had written each of his letters would be important. But Proverbs is not about what happened in the past but about what should happen right now. It is a book of timeless wisdom, not time-sensitive data.
 
Consider, for example, what is arguably the foundational saying of the entire book: Proverbs 1:7:
 
The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge,
but fools despise wisdom and discipline.
 
Is there any age in which this proverb is not true? Is there any time when reverence for God is not the fundamental principle of the truly good life? Has there ever been a day when fools haven’t hated common sense? Obviously not! This proverb is always true.
 
Another key lesson of the Book of Proverbs is the importance of a good marriage. Now, marriage in the ancient world was significantly different than marriage in the modern world. For example, many of the marriages were arranged. Men had considerably more political and economic power than women. There were often rigidly defined and enforced social roles based on sex. And yet, Proverbs offers timeless advice for starting and maintaining a healthy marriage. For example:
 
May your fountain be blessed,
and may you rejoice in the wife of your youth. (Prov. 5:18)
 
A wife of noble character is her husband’s crown,
but a disgraceful wife is like decay in his bones. (Prov. 12:4)
He who finds a wife finds what is good
and receives favor from the Lord. (Prov. 18:22)
 
Better to live in a desert
than with a quarrelsome and ill-tempered wife. (Prov. 25:19)
 
Admittedly, these proverbs are written from a man’s point of view. But does that make them any less true? And anyway, just substitute the word husband for wife in any of these proverbs, and the saying is still applicable. Regardless of when the Book of Proverbs was written, in other words, its sentiments are for all times.
 
After all, common sense has no expiration date.

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What Is a Proverb?

Tuesday, September 11th, 2007
Whenever you read a piece of literature, you need to be aware of its literary genre so that you can interpret it properly.
 
For example, A Tale of Two Cities by Charles Dickens tells a story about people who lived and died during the French Revolution. But it is a fictional story, not an historical account. You can read it for spiritual inspiration but not for historical information. Why? Because that’s the nature of its literary genre as a novel.
 
When you read the Bible, you should be aware that it contains many literary genres. The most prominent is historical narrative, the skillful telling of historical events. But the Bible also includes laws, poems, proverbs, prophecies, parables, and epistles. Each literary genre is distinct and requires different rules of interpretation.
 
In How to Read Proverbs, Tremper Longman notes that proverbs typically have three characteristics: brevity, parallelism, and imagery.[1] Let’s take a quick look at each one.
 
First, brevity: Proverbs are typically—though not always—short, pithy sayings. Proverbs 1-9 are an exception to this rule, but chapters 10-31 prove it. Often, a proverb consists of just two lines. For example, consider Proverbs 1:7:
 
The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge,
but fools despise wisdom and instruction.
 
In many ways, this proverb is the essence of the book’s message. If you want to know how to live the good life, then revere God first. Most proverbs similarly pack large wisdom into little words.
 
Second, parallelism: Most of the proverbs are two lines long. Some of these proverbs employ straightforward parallelism, that is, saying the same thing twice, but using different words. For example, consider Proverbs 16:13:
 
Kings take pleasure in honest lips;
they value a man who speaks the truth.
 
The message of both lines is basically the same: Kings value honesty.
 
Many proverbs use antithetical parallelism, that is, saying one thing on the first line, and the opposite thing on the next. For example, consider Proverbs 10:4:
 
Lazy hands make a man poor,
but diligent hands bring wealth.
 
Throughout Proverbs, you will find stark contrasts between wisdom and folly, diligence and laziness, righteousness and sin—all in the course of two lines. That is the power of antithetical parallelism.
 
One final form of parallelism is comparative parallelism. The words “better than” typically appear in proverbs using this form. For example, consider Proverbs 16:8:
 
Better a little with righteousness
than much gain with injustice.
 
Much of Proverbs deals with worldly success, but it never loses sight of the truth that the depth of your integrity is more important than the size of your bank account.
 
Third, imagery: Proverbs paints verbal pictures that stick in your mind and (hopefully) shape your behavior. For example, consider Proverbs 26:14:
 
As a door turns on its hinges,
so a sluggard turns on his bed.
 
You can almost hear the bed springs creak, can’t you?
 
Brevity, parallelism, and imagery. Those are three basic characteristics of biblical proverbs.



[1] Tremper Longman III, How to Read Proverbs (Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity, 2002), 37-46.

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Who Wrote Proverbs?

Monday, September 10th, 2007
  
Whenever you begin to study a book of the Bible, you should ask six questions: Who? What? When? Where? Why? And how?
 
Today, then, as we begin to study Proverbs, let’s ask who wrote it. The book itself provides several answers.
 
Proverbs 1:1, for example, says: “The proverbs of Solomon son of David, king of Israel.” Solomon is also named as a contributor or proverbs at 10:1 and 25:1. But Solomon is not the only contributor. At 22:17 and 24:23, we read that a group of otherwise anonymous individuals known as “the wise” contributed proverbs to the book. At 30:1, we learn that “Agur son of Jakeh” added his proverbs, and at 31:1, we read about “King Lemuel,” who passed on proverbs he learned from his mother.
 
The Book of Proverbs, in other words, is a group effort. Proverbs 25:1 suggests that Solomon and the others didn’t actually sit down and write the book. Rather, 25:1 says that their proverbs were “copied by the men of Hezekiah king of Judah.” With regard to the authorship of Proverbs, then, we can probably conclude that while Solomon and the others spoke their proverbs, still other people edited those sayings into a book.
 
What do we know about these people? With the exception of Solomon, very little. “The wise” and “the men of Hezekiah” are anonymous individuals. Agur and Lemuel do not otherwise appear in the Bible; they might not even be Jewish. But since Solomon looms large over the book, we can safely focus on him.
 
As Proverbs 1:1 makes clear, Solomon is the son of King David and the heir to his throne. According to 1 Kings 3:9, at the outset of his reign, Solomon asked God for “a discerning heart to govern your people and to distinguish between right and wrong.” Pleased with this request, God gave Solomon what he asked for. But he also went further. According to verse 13, God said, “I will give you what you have not asked for—both riches and honor—so that in your lifetime you will have no equal among kings.” And indeed, the Bible portrays Solomon’s reign as the Golden Age of Israel’s history.
 
But it was Solomon’s wisdom that made the lasting impression. According to 1 Kings 4:29-34, “God gave Solomon wisdom and very great insight, and a breadth of understanding as measureless as the sand on the seashore.” He was wiser than the rulers of surrounding countries. Indeed, he was so wise that “men of all nations came to listen to Solomon’s wisdom, sent by all the kings of the world, who had heard of his wisdom.”
 
In other words, Solomon was one smart cookie. But the Bible emphasizes that Solomon’s wisdom was the gift of God to a man humble enough to ask for it. Perhaps that’s why Proverbs 1:7 says, “The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge”—both for Solomon and for us.

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